July 17th one last ride

Sun set after a long day


Castle we passed on the ride


Our last col of the day


Scenery of Lake Annecy from col de la forclaz

The plan for today was to ride the loop that our nice neighbors suggested. We needed to go out with a bang so the loop was 94k and included 4 cols: the Col de la Forclaz (a different one than before), Col de Marais, Col de Croix Fry, and the Col de Aravis. We wanted to go for one more ride just in case we did sell our bike. The ride was very enjoyable, but we were trying to beat two things: weather and the clock. The temperature was perfect for riding, but threatening to rain the whole day. Second, we needed to go back to the bike shop from yesterday to see if there were any buyers. We started up the Forclaz which is the take off point for the paragliders around here. After that, we had an easy climb up to Marais. Then, the Croix Fry and Aravis are at about the same elevation with a short descent in between. We found some great scenic points today. One of my favorite little towns that we ran into was called La Clusaz. It is a ski town that reminded Nate of Snowmass (but not as nice). And the road back to Annecy was almost all downhill. In fact, we had a cyclist drafting us on one of the downhills. Then the cyclist either decided that he would pull for a bit or try to pass us, but as it turned out we actually were coasting and hitting the brakes as he was going all out (its great on downhills having the weight of two people). The only place we have an advantage on other cyclists: straight downhill. We took a few wrong turns, but ended up back in Annecy at a reasonable time. Since it was Saturday, we needed to stock up on food and then we needed to clean up our bike in case we had a buyer and get to the bike shop by six. Our grocery shopping trip was an adventure. We went to the normal grocery store. Then, we decided to go to a butcher to get meat for philly cheese steak sandwiches. Nate tried to order 200 grams, but the guy asked him if it was for one person or two. Nate answered honestly: two. 15 euro and one gigantic hunk of animal later, we had plenty for dinner. We arrived at the bike shop to find out that we did not have a buyer, but they did give us directions to another bike shop out of town. We tried two more bike shops with no takers. Disappointed, we were ready to go home. The only bad news was that we desperately needed fuel for our stove and it was well past time for anywhere to be open…and tomorrow is Sunday. We rode to three gas stations and put on another 24k for the day with no luck. They have self-serve gas stations here, but only with the correct kind of bank card. Apparently, they have special chips in their cards here instead of the strip. So, we decided to go home again without any luck and try to cook our block of meat with what we had. We’ll try to get gas tomorrow. We enjoyed dinner at about 10:30 and passed out.
~140k
Mo